By Crispian Balmer
VENICE, Sept 4 (Reuters) – Veteran U.S. director Paul Schrader said on Friday he has spent a lifetime writing about guilt, sin and redemption, and believes the roots of that obsession can be found in his strict Christian childhood.
Schrader’s latest film, “The Basics of Philosophy”, which premieres at the Venice Film Festival, centres on a philosophy professor struggling with a terrible secret from his past and a question he cannot answer – whether he deserves forgiveness.
The film continues a thread running through many of Schrader’s best-known works, from “Taxi Driver”, which he wrote the screenplay for, to “First Reformed”, to “The Card Counter” and “Master Gardener”, all of which feature lonely, troubled protagonists wrestling with their consciences.
“The taxi driver is a drug dealer. He’s a minister. He’s a card player. He’s a gardener. And now he’s a professor of philosophy,” Schrader told reporters.
Asked why he kept returning to the same theme, Schrader pointed to his upbringing.
“I was raised a Dutch Calvinist,” he said. “You don’t outrun your childhood. My childhood was one of predestination of guilt, of total depravity and all that.”
A SPURT OF PRODUCTIVITY
The U.S. filmmaker, who turned 80 in July, said it was up to the audience to decide whether the professor had managed to escape his demons come the end of the film – an ambiguity that the lead actor, Jack Huston, praised.
“Paul and I talked about it. He said he believes the final scene of the film should be the conversation that ensues when the audience leaves the theatre,” Huston said.
Rather than presenting a conventional villain, Huston said the film examines someone whose wrongdoing is hidden behind an ordinary exterior.
“It’s not a portrait of the bogeyman, the man coming at you with a knife held high. It’s the person living in plain sight. It’s the everyman,” he said.
Schrader has made four films since 2021 and has three more in the pipeline. He said his spurt of productivity was largely thanks to digital technology that had helped slash costs.
“My career took a change when digital came in,” he said, explaining that whereas it used to take more than 40 days to shoot, digital filmmaking made it possible to complete films in less than half that time and for far less money.
He said the huge tax breaks available also helped lower the costs and played a big part in where he made his films. “The Basics of Philosophy” was set in the Midwest because of the incentives on offer in Missouri and Kansas City.
“That’s the reason to get on a plane,” he said.
The film is being shown out of competition at the Venice Film Festival, which runs until September 12.
(Reporting by Crispian BalmerEditing by Alexandra Hudson)
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